1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensing materials generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel device and method for automatically measuring the length of materials to be dispensed and applied to an article.
2. Background Art
While the present invention is described with reference to dispensing sealing tape for cartons, the present invention is applicable to the dispensing of materials generally, where the materials are supplied in roll or strip form, such as, but not limited to, sealing tape for closing cartons.
Dispensing, for the purpose of the present invention is defined as, but not limited to, feeding the material on command, cutting the material to a predetermined length, moistening if required to reactivate preapplied glue or adhesive, and presenting the material to the operator conveniently for subsequent uses. The material may include, but is not limited to, paper, plastic film, metal foil, fiberglass, cloth, nylon, rayon, or any combination of these and other flexible media. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to improvements in the dispensing of such materials.
It is common to provide tape dispensers that feed and cut tape using electromechanical means and that determine the tape length being dispensed by means of electromechanical elements or by means of a code disk rotating at a circumferential speed related to the linear tape speed and generating pulses that are counted by discrete electronics or by a microprocessor. Further, it is common for the operator of a tape dispenser to estimate or manually measure the length of the box, carton, or package to be sealed and, if necessary, add the length of the required overlap of tape over the ends of the box, carton, or package. Such estimation and/or manual measurement is prone to error, wasted material, and is time consuming. It is common that increased cost is incurred, both in terms of labor and in terms of material cost for the excess or wasted tape.
Some known wrapping and packaging devices and methods are described in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,079, issued Jun. 12, 1973, to Rudman et al., and titled BAG TYPE SHRINK WRAPPING APPARATUS, describes a machine which draws a shrink wrap tube downwardly over a loaded pallet. At a point, determined by an optical sensor which gauges the height of the load, the tubing is given a transverse seal and is cut.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,797, issued Nov. 18, 1980, to Schwarz, and titled AUTOMATIC BAGGING MACHINE, describes a machine similar in function to that of the ""079 patent above, except that a garment is bagged in this patent. The length of the garment is sensed by an IR photodetector.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,106, issued Feb. 26, 1985, to Treiber et al., and titled WRAPPING CONTROL SYSTEM FOR FILM WRAPPING MACHINE, describes a film wrapping machine that employs swing arms and electrical switches to determine the height, length, and width of a package, selects one of at least two different widths of film, and cuts the length of the film accordingly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,092, issued Mar. 19, 1985, to Bowers et al., and titled PACKAGE SENSING/FILM CONTROL SYSTEM FOR FILM WRAPPING MACHINE, is similar in pertinent respects to the ""106 patent above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,345, issued Apr. 22, 1986, to Hirosaki et al., and titled AUTOMATIC PACKAGING, MEASURING AND PRICING MACHINE, describes a system in which packaging film length is preset. After packaging, the article is weighed and a price label automatically printed and applied to the article.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,410, issued Apr. 5, 1994, to Freeman, and titled PACKAGING MECHANISM AND METHOD, describes a shrink wrapping machine which receives size information from a document feeder or from xe2x80x9csensing means (not shown).xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,420, issued Jun. 11, 1996, to Ikuta, and titled HORIZONTAL FORM-FILL-SEAL PACKAGING MACHINE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME, describes a machine for packaging articles in tubing, the cutting of the tubing between adjacent articles being controlled by the length of the articles. The length of the articles is determined by signals from an xe2x80x9carticle detection sensor.xe2x80x9d
None of the foregoing patents discloses an economical device and method for automatically measuring an article and dispensing material to be applied to the article.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a device and a method for automatically measuring an article and dispensing material to be applied to the article.
A further object of the invention is to provide such device and method that are economical.
An additional object of the invention is to provide such device and method that are accurate.
Another object of the invention is to provide such device and method that save time and material as compared with conventional devices and methods.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide such device and method that are easily implemented and can be retrofitted to an existing packaging facility.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.
The present invention achieves the above objects, among others, by providing, in one preferred embodiment, an automatic measuring and material length control device, comprising: means for measuring length of an article to which a material is to applied, said means for measuring being able to measure said length without contacting said article; and means for receiving from said means for measuring a signal representative of said length and determining a length of said material to be dispensed and providing a control signal to a dispenser of said material to dispense said length of said material. In another preferred embodiment, a method of automatically measuring length of an article and controlling length of material to be applied to said article, comprising: measuring a length of said article to which said material is to applied, said measuring being done without contacting said article; receiving a signal representative of said length and determining a length of said material to be dispensed; and providing a control signal to a dispenser of said material to dispense said length of said material.